


Brunch

by Vermillions



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bonding, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, carbs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22380580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vermillions/pseuds/Vermillions
Summary: Rey has in her possession one very valuable resource that the tired, hungry members of company seventy-seven are in need of.
Relationships: Finn & Company 77, Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron/Finn (implied)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	Brunch

Standing at the mouth of the blanched courtyard, Finn squinted into the light of the two suns at his left. 

“This… is even worse than Jakku.”

The planet was called Tatooine and it was dryer and hotter than Jakku, as far as Finn could tell. Sand, and nothing but sand, as far as the eye could see. Miserable.

Of _course_ Rey would come here to play homesteader.

As the rest of his companions made their way off of the ship, shielding their eyes, the muffled sound of trampled sand underfoot made the motley group of ex-troopers sound like a herd of ambling, disorganized banthas. Twenty-three disorganized banthas, including Finn.

“I’m suddenly very nostalgic for Kef Bir,” said a man to his right, scratching his chin. Hotch, Jannah’s second in command, was a burly man with rosy cheeks and a patchy beard. Without him they never would’ve gotten their stolen, formerly-decrepit imperial shuttlecraft up and running and comfortably seating all of them, and for that Finn was immensely grateful. They’d been traveling around in two u-wings prior to fixing up the old wreck, and Finn did not miss the smell of fifteen people crammed into a tiny ship with a broken cooling system.

An eerie howl split the air from somewhere to the North. A howl, or maybe the sound of a particularly rusty wheel. Whispers went up throughout the group, and Finn heard more than one query of “ _sandpeople_?” behind him.

“It’s broad daylight”, Jannah chided a wary, diminutive blonde, who looked a bit on edge, “besides, you can see for days. What’s gonna sneak up on you, Dorr?” 

The blonde, Dorr, blinked slowly. With a small twitch of her lips she raised a finger to point into the middle distance over Jannah’s right shoulder. Jannah turned. There, sure enough, in the haze of a mirage, was an approaching speeder. 

“Right,” said Jannah. 

“One speeder?” said Ree, the youngest of their outfit, a slim kel dor, “frightening.” 

Dorr stuck her tongue out at Ree, and they both chuckled. Several of their company bristled and reached slowly for holstered or concealed weapons. But the closer the speeder came, the more at ease Finn began to feel. Comfortable. Happy. 

As it came to a halt, dust billowing towards the group, Finn could make out a familiar silhouette stepping into the haze.

He let out a loud whoop, and it was answered by an echoing hoot, and as he trotted into the dust cloud to meet her it was like time had reversed, and it was just the two of them on their own, two against the world. She hugged him so tightly he had to tap her shoulder to get some air.

“Oh! Sorry,” Rey sputtered, releasing him, a little pink in the face. She looked pointier than he remembered, perhaps a bit sunburnt, but otherwise the same. 

“I missed you,” she said, “I’m glad you’re here.”

He grinned and put his hands on her shoulders. “Rey…” he said, face falling flat, “what kind of kriffing hell hole is this?”

She beamed back at him, but her smile hardly touched her eyes. “A farm, Finn.”

He straightened and made a deliberate scan of the horizon, his voice rising in pitch. “Mmmm, I don’t see any plants.” 

“It’s a moisture farm,” said Rey. Her eyes seemed puffy, Finn noticed. Sad. “Well, it was, anyway.” Rey continued, “will be again if I can keep the power converters from failing every other day!”

“Moisture… farm,” Finn said quietly, looking back at the decidedly dry and crack-ridden dome structure that marked the entrance to the house… complex… thing.

“Jannah,” Rey was saying, moving past Finn to greet the approaching woman. They shook hands. 

“Lovely to see you,” said Jannah, and she meant it, but Rey could tell that Jannah was still very wary of her. A wave of protective energy hung over Jannah’s set shoulders. And that was something Rey could respect.

Behind Jannah, all sorts of people were inching forward. A large group, more than twenty, Rey thought. Some faces she recognized, others she didn’t. She felt suddenly shy.

“Hello,” she said, with an awkward wave, elbow glued to her side. She received several awkward waves in return, a few head nods, one bow, and one very loud “HI THERE” from somewhere at the back of the crowd.

Finn scooted forward. “Uh,” he said in a louder voice, “everyone, this is Rey. Rey, this is…”

He turned back to look at her, arms dropping to his sides. “These are my siblings. Family.”

Most of the group were from the same company, individuals Rey had met on Kef Bir, but others she didn’t recognize. Finn’s family. Rey must have tilted her head slightly, or shifted her weight, because Finn looked away from her for a moment, flustered. 

“We worked as a service unit at the refugee center on Saleucami, and just… stayed together after that. We were all raised in the first order, all of us, and we figured… might as well make something positive out of that.”

Rey’s smile was as warm as the suns, and genuine, Finn noted. Not a hint of sadness in her eyes this time.

“You’re all more than welcome at my table. Always.” She beamed. Rey was proud of Finn, and proud to know him.

Then her face fell, and she squinted, frowning slightly.

“What’s wrong?” asked Finn after a spell.

“It’s just… I don’t have a table.” said Rey quietly, clearly a bit embarrassed, if not apologetic.

All was quiet for a moment, but for the squeal of rusty turbines to the East. Then, from behind Jannah, Hotch let out a sputtering, guttural laugh. " _She doesn't even have a table_ " he wheezed. Beside him, a slender comrade was trying not to giggle, putting a hand to their mouth to stifle the sound. But it was too late, the whole company was devolving into fits of laughter, and Finn was laughing too. Soon, so was Rey, tears in her eyes, unable to stop.

“I- I do! It’s just- it’s still buried! I haven’t cleaned that nook out yet!” She managed between laughs.

“But I don’t think…” she said, as the group settled down, “I don’t think it matters. It… it wouldn’t seat… twenty-four.”

As the number rolled off her tongue, Hotch abruptly chortled, face red as an oi-oi berry. He laughed so hard he doubled over. “ _What_?” Asked Jannah, but Hotch couldn’t answer, he was giggling uncontrollably, and it was contagious.

They were all laughing again, Finn with his hands on his knees, Jannah snorting, sucking in raspy breaths with her tongue stuck to the gap in her teeth. Rey collapsed backward onto the ground, puffs of dust erupting from the sand where her rear end landed, legs splayed out in front of her at awkward angles, and she laughed until she could hardly make another sound. She laughed until the muscles in her abdomen hurt. She laughed until she felt warm, and a bit dizzy, and as she sat there collecting herself she couldn’t fight the feeling that in this moment, this warm and dazzling moment, her new home finally felt like home.

As the laughter dissipated, Rey could make out the hum of an engine, and looked up to see an u-wing descending from between the twin suns. More guests. 

The small craft landed just shy of the larger ship, and two figures made their way out and towards the crowd. The short individual in the lead was waving at Rey heartily: Rose Tico, a pair of perfect braids swaying back and forth as she walked. Poe Dameron followed her and greeted the collective ex-troopers tentatively, almost shyly. When Finn approached, neither man seemed able to decide whether or not to go in for a hug or some kind of handshake, and this resulted in about twenty seconds of weird half-motions, awkward mumbling, some shuffled footsteps, and finally a hug. Rey found the whole exchange laughable and odd, Finn and Poe were generally very comfortable around one another.

Finn had dropped his arms to his sides in a sort of “I don’t really know” gesture, but Poe still had him in his embrace, and he was clearly laughing as he pulled away. He kept one hand at the base of Finn’s neck and gave him a small, somewhat adoring smirk. Finn, meanwhile, seemed to be attempting to look anywhere other than at Poe, including— but not limited to— his belt buckle, the grip of his blaster, his boots. Rey could feel the flustered confusion radiating off of him so strongly, she almost thought she could hear him screaming “ _WHAT_ ” in his head.

Rose caught her eye, and Rey tilted her head at the pair of oddly-behaved men. Rose pulled a face and waggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively with a none-too-subtle wink. 

“ _Well"_ , Rey thought, watching Poe and Finn awkwardly disentangle and join the group, keeping an even distance from one another, “ _that took long enough_ ”. Finn looked so flushed he was sweating. 

Rey decided not to bring it up, for now. Poe was within reach of her now, and she embraced him gladly. She smirked rather gleefully at Finn over Poe’s shoulder, but Finn was still very intent on looking at his boots. 

“You look good,” Poe said, clapping Rey on the shoulder. “Rose and I have been flying around with nothing but ration sticks to nosh on for three days. Please tell me you have something else to eat, I am begging you.”

Rey clapped him on the shoulder now. “I do. Bread!” She backed towards the entryway and spoke a bit louder. “I have loads of bread!”

As Finn, Rose, and Poe followed her into the pantry area, Poe let out a low whistle. The shelves were piled high with all manner of bread loaves in various colors and sizes. There was enough bread to feed a small army which they, in fact, numbered.

“Wow,” said Rose.

“Rey, you’re _obsessed_ ,” said Finn.

“I’ve never had an oven before,” she retorted, a bit embarrassed. “I mean if you don’t want any of it…”

“No!” they objected, speaking over one another.

“I haven’t seen bread in months!”

“I have never in my life objected to being fed bread-“

“If these three don’t want any,” called a voice from behind them, “the rest of us will gladly have their portion.” It was Jannah, left arm raised above her and propped up against the low door frame. She turned back and shouted down the short hall, “Hotch! Go get the food! The good stuff!” 

“Food?” yelled Hotch, his head poking out over the top of the sunken courtyard. 

“Anyone else hungry?” shouted Rey, and a multitude of positive shouts told her she’d be doing a lot more baking over the coming days. She quite liked that idea.

They were twenty-six people in all, but there was still enough food to go around. Everyone had some tasty morsel or other to contribute, some rare snack or leftover treat (except Poe and Rose, with nothing but ration sticks and grateful stomachs). 

They sat on a ragged bunch of old blankets in the sunken courtyard and ate bread and butter, with various spreads and meats and vegetables passed between the group. The sound of conversation, pleasant banter, was a welcome change for Rey. She couldn’t tell if the food was genuinely delicious, or if it was just overwhelmingly nice to be having a meal with friends. Family. 

Finn nudged Rey’s knee with his and said softly, gentle-eyed, “this is the best meal I’ve ever had.” 

Rey smiled back at him. She thought so too.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a joke scenario I texted to some friends, but I got attached to it, thus... brunch time.
> 
> Thanks for reading, please R n' R if you can :)!


End file.
